


His Kindness

by AussieTransfan2015, TheBigLoserQueen



Series: Merpeople AU [13]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attack, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Beaches, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Issues, Friendship, Gen, Happy Ending, Human, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Interspecies, Interspecies Relationship(s), Merpeople, Neglect, Ocean, Rape/Non-con Elements, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Sharks, friends - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 13:38:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19174396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AussieTransfan2015/pseuds/AussieTransfan2015, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBigLoserQueen/pseuds/TheBigLoserQueen
Summary: Charlotte never expected a complete stranger to care.





	His Kindness

Who would have thought being on a boat, in the middle of the bay, was so relaxing.

Charlotte smiled, watching her friends chatter, drink, and play around on the boat they rented for the day. It had only been a few weeks since her family moved her, so she hadn’t actually seen much of the island. In fact, she was usually held up in her room, isolated while her parents fussed around with furniture placement and how their new home looked, keeping herself away from her judgmental siblings… And David, the only sibling she could count out, was more often out and about than inside the house with friends he had made on the island.

She was glad Alice had convinced her to come out today. She never expected that her best friend from college lived on this island, so she had at least one other person to turn to for support. It was because of her she ended up making more friends too. So when she invited her out, Charlotte decided to give it a try.

It turned out better than she had hoped. She was with Alice, and her new friends Kelly, Isaac, and Josh. Isaac’s older brother, Mason, was also there, but he was mainly there since he was the only one who knew how to drive the boat. But they were all having a good time, and she didn’t need to worry about being judged with them. Everything was going well.

“You okay, Charlotte?”

Snapped from her thoughts, she turned to Alice as she placed a hand on her shoulder. “What-?”

“You kind of blanked out.”

Charlotte smiled, taking her hand and giving it a firm squeeze. “I’m good, I promise.”

“You know what really helps a glump slump?”

The coy voice had Alice and Charlotte turn to Isaac, who was smiling mischievously alongside Kelly. Before either girl could react, Josh came up from behind and took hold of their arms before jumping into the water, dragging them with him. Surfacing for air, a roar of laughter echoed around them, Issac and Kelly following after. They all swam around, joking and cackling.

Splashed and hoots drew Mason out to watch the show, but a keen eye caught something in the surf. The moment he saw a long tail whip out of sight, he bolted to the boat’s stern. “Shark!” he shouted, drawing their attention to them. “Everybody on the boat! Now!”

He snagged a rope and life ring, throwing them out to the stunned and confused group. Josh was the closest to the ring, pulling Kelly over to it. Issac swam to Alice and Charlotte, who had drifted further from the boat.

“Come on! Come on!” Mason helped Kelly up back onto the boat, leaving her to tend to Josh while he threw the ring again.

“I got you, Charlotte!” Issac snagged the ring, Alice beside him as they both reached for Charlotte. Just as her hand grazed theirs, something brushed against her leg.

Turning her eyes away for only a moment, found the water enveloping her and her friend’s muffled shrieks. Near blinded by salt water, she looked up to see Mason pulling the ring and her friends away.

“What do we have here~?” the sudden clear voice shocked her, turning to see not a shark but a sharkticon looming around her. Feeling her lungs burn for oxygen, every attempt to surface had her pulled back. “Don’t go, I wanna play~”

She was too busy struggling to get away to register what he meant. Managing a swift kick to his chest, Charlotte was able to break away and force herself to the surface. She gasped violently for air, turning again just as the life ring splashed beside her.

“Charlotte, grab on!” Alice shrieked.

She tried to reach for it. She even had her hand on it. But before Mason and Isaac could pull her back, a hand snagged her leg and yanked her back under. She thought she heard her friends scream, but she couldn’t be sure.

“Little tease,” the sharkticon hissed, snagging her arms in one hand and threatening to claw her apart with his other. “Quit playing hard to get, we all know how this will end.”

Charlotte thrashed in panic. She had heard of this strange breed of aquatic life, how some hunted and ate humans, but what it had just implied, they did so much more than that.

She tried not to scream, tried not to open her mouth, but her thrashing wasn’t helping and her lungs screaming for her to breath. The sharkticon’s sadistic grin turned around, huffing as he landed a punch to her stomach. Air bolted from her mouth, bubbles running over and expanding out as she fought to urge to breath in.

“That’s better~ now your face doesn’t look so bloated.”

God, she was blacking out, spots dancing over her vision and salt water burning her nostrils. She couldn’t fight back the urge to breath in. She was going to drown before this beast could do what he was implying. She didn’t know what was worse at this point.

“Now, give us a kiss~” The sharkticon lent in, tongue swiping over rows of teeth as his free hand pinched her cheeks, forcing her to open her mouth. She had no energy to fight. She couldn’t stop the salt water from rushing past her lips. Primus, she really was going to die...

“Begone!”

A deep voice bellowed around he. The weight of the shark fell away as water suddenly rushed past her. Something grabbed her arm and practically threw her up. Before she knew it, she had broken the water's surface, and her only reaction was to spit out water and gasp for air.

“Charlotte!”

A splash came behind her before an arm wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her away as large masses moved under them. She turned to see Isaac pulling her back to the boat. He panted hard, swimming with all of his might to carry them both back, when the sharkticon burst through the surface.

Charlotte nearly screamed, clinging to Isaac as the monster snarled. His arms outstretched to grab Charlotte, ready to drag her back under… But time seemed to slow as another webbed hand broke the surface and snagged the shark. It was only a moment, but Charlotte could see a large blue and white form behind the arm, large blue eyes glaring at the sharkticon before they both disappeared back under the water.

It gave Isaac enough time to get her back to the boat. Her friends rushed to pull them both up, just as Mason bolted to the controls. Quickly, he blasted the engines and shot away from the scene, just as the bodies breached.

They all marveled as a large, blue, mercreature rose from the water, grappling the struggling sharkticon - who was much smaller by comparison - and body slamming it back into the water. It mimicked the graceful humpbacks’ spouts and splashes, but it each landed on the creature. The last, and by far the highest the blue mer reached, had him throwing the sharkticon into open water.

The resulting crash had the stalled boat shaking. Holding onto Isaac and steadied by Alice, Charlotte was helped moved to the boat’s side. They all just watched the larger mer swim under and around the boat.

“Did we just get saved?” Josh asked, anxiety clear in his quivering voice. “Or… Or is it hunting us now?”

“No, no” Mason assured them, signalling for them to keep still. “The other guys and I know this one. Seen him around a few times... pretty sure this is his territory. But he’s never attacked us or anyone else.”

The boat suddenly shifted, having been bumped by the mer before he surfaced. He seemed to inspect the boat before coming to the stern, looking at each of them. Once his eyes fell on Charlotte, she jumped. They were so soft, almost kind. The shade of blue was so brilliant she couldn’t help but stare.

But it soon dove back under the waves. The five of them sat there in silence, anxious as to whether or not it would return. But minutes passed and the water stayed calm, only their breathing echoing among the water. It was enough for Mason to shake off his nerves and rev up the boat, making a hasty retreat back to the shore.

Charlotte suddenly slumped against the boat’s side, having lost all of her strength. Kelly and Alice gasped, rushing to her side to help her sit up.

“Charlotte?!” Kelly cried. “A-Are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah…” she said weakly, letting Alice help her lie down on the floor. “J-Just… Hurts…”

“We should get you to the hospital,” Isaac insisted. “Just in case, you know? You were underwater for a long time, and you got a really nasty bruise and some cuts...”

That explained the pain in her stomach. God, her whole body ached… Not to mention she still felt dizzy and nauseous. Her chest hurt too, and she felt so weak. A hospital trip probably wouldn’t hurt, especially if she had cuts. The salt water could have gotten them infected, she honestly had no idea. Her mind was all over the place now.

“D-Don’t call my parents,” she begged softly. “Call David, let him know… Just make sure my parents-”

Alice held her hand tightly. “I’ll call him, don’t worry.”

Charlotte felt a little relief run through her. Thank God, she didn’t want her parents or her other siblings find out about this. With her luck, they would have gotten annoyed with her inconveniencing them by getting attacked. After all, her mother told her she didn’t like her going out into the ocean… She would probably just get a lecture about not listening to her or something.

Or worse, none of them would even show up because they were all too busy. At least she knew if someone contacted David, she could expect him to actually be there and care. She just hoped it was nothing too serious so he didn’t worry too much though. She didn’t want to do that to him…

Hopefully the hospital would have good news for her.

XXX

Luckily, the hospital trip had been mostly uneventful. They did some tests on her, keeping her on oxygen for safety. Somehow, there wasn’t any water in lungs, and her cuts didn’t seem to be infected, but they were still treated all the same.

Her friends had all wanted to stay with her, but she was able to get them to relax and told them not to worry. Alice was the only one to stay behind, waiting by her side until David came. Then they both waited until all her tests came back fine, and she was discharged.

Fortunately for her, her family never found out what had happened. They had noticed the cuts, but David helped her play it off as just getting some scratches from coral and rocks. If they had seen through the lie, they didn’t really seem to care. For once, she was glad they didn’t though. She didn’t really want to relive her harrowing experience by telling them. Nor did she want to be lectured because of it.

Since then, Charlotte refused to go out on the water, something her friends respected and kept their daily hangouts at the pier instead. Even so, she couldn’t fight the urge to sit out on the private beach the family home had, just at the shore line to feel the water splash at her feet. It was always relaxing out there, and it got her out of the house when she didn’t want to be there.

Of course, when she had first gone out there, she had a strange feeling of being watched. It had frightened her at first, thinking someone was on the beach, but she could clearly see there was no one around. It made her a little paranoid, believing perhaps it was from the water. Maybe that sharkticon again, she didn’t know.

But she heard splashes in the distance. She couldn’t see what it was, but it seemed too big to be the sharkticon from before. And it never came closer to her either. It just... stayed back, as if giving her space. It confused her, and made her anxious, so she ran back inside when it became too much.

However, she came back a few days later. The splashing in the distance was still there, but once again, it didn’t come closer to her. With each visit, she would come closer to the shoreline, but whoever was out there never came closer. It brought her a sense of comfort; it was like she was being protected and it made her feel at ease. She even found herself being able to go into the water, though only knee deep.

Now, three week had passed since the sharkticon incident. Her family was attending some charity event they hadn’t told her about, which gave her the perfect opportunity to practice her flute. It was sometimes hard to find a chance to practice without being teased by her siblings or being gently told to stop by her parents. Now, with no one around, she could play to her heart's content.

She came out to the beach again, sitting cross legged on a towel. Going over the notes in her head before taking position, she started the slow melody. It was one of her favourite pieces, albeit a simple tune; the melody seemed to move back and forth, much like a wave crashing and receding back. She knew there was a story behind the song, but she couldn’t remember it at the moment. All she wanted to focus on was the soft tune escaping from her instrument and into the early evening sky.

What she didn’t expect was a loud whale call to fall in step with her.

The call startled her, causing her to pitching a note too strongly. She stopped, pulling back from the flute and looking out of the water. The call had stopped too, everything falling silent. Was that just her imagination? Or were there whales close by? She couldn’t recall her parents saying their new house overlooked a migration path or the pier advertising it was whale season.

Wetting her lips again, she calmed a moment longer before resuming. The calls soon followed. So she wasn’t just hearing things. A whale was out there and they were… singing with her. Or maybe they thought it was another whale calling, she didn’t know. But Instead of stopping, she continued and listened to the haunting hum and trill from the whale’s song harmonising with hers.

The piece itself wasn’t complicated or unique, but with the whale singing along, it made it haunting and exhilarating all at once. She wished she would have recorded the melody, thinking this would be the only time it could happen.

Bringing her piece to an end, the whale’s song softening to silence, she realised how sore her lips and fingers were. The sun had already set, the moon and stars out and shining bright. Looking out over the water, now far too dark to see anything, she could only smile. She had come out here to be alone, but… the company had been nice, even if it was just a mistakened whale.

“I hope we can do this again!” she called out, not expecting a response but hoping the promise could be kept. Still giddy from the little duet, she ran back inside for the night. She hoped this would happen again soon.

XXX

Tears wouldn’t stop running down her cheeks. Her heart thumping against her chest and her arms shaking as she tried to hold herself. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get the tears to stop.

Once again, she had been an embarrassment to her parents. They had some guests over, something she wasn’t aware of, and completely stepped into the room unannounced. Probably much to her parents’ dismay, they started asking her questions about what she did or what she was studying. They seemed surprised about her existence, even saying that they didn’t know her parents had a third daughter.

Her mother shortly escorted her into the kitchen, making a comment to her about how she “should have just stayed in her room like she always did.” The dismissive, tired tone in her voice stabbed her so deep, she couldn’t bare to stay in the house once her mother left her.

Not even the shore line was far enough. Instead, she took to a rocky outcrop off to the side edge of the property. Covered by shrubs and trees, the isolation did little to curb her darkening thoughts. Her family probably wished she had never been born. They were always so ashamed and embarrassed by her, no matter what she did. Even David… Maybe he was only kind to her out of pity. Maybe she also annoyed him too, like she did Elmer and Yvonne. She wasn’t worth anything; no matter what she did, she meant nothing to anyone...

Not even the calm sweep of the waves against the rocks and occasional stray from the sea could hide or stop her tears. She cursed she didn’t have her razor with her, her fingers pinching and clawing at her healed scars on her thighs. Anything to relieve the agony in her mind.

“Are… you alright?”

Charlotte gasped, slipping slightly on her little perch as she looked behind her. She was shocked to see no one there, causing her to look around. When turned back to the water, she was startled to see a head bobbing with the small waves. She would have shrieked, but her voice froze in her throat when she saw large blue eyes locked on her. Blue eyes that she recognized from that horrifying ordeal...

“It’s you,” she whispered, wiping away the tears from her eyes. “You’re… the one who saved…”

The large mercreature suddenly pulled himself out of the water to a neighbouring rock. Half of his body was on the rock with the other half remained in the water. She hadn’t thought that this area was in deep water, causing her to look down. Even though it was dark, she could tell now that the water around her was pretty deep, which explained how he could move about unhindered. If she wasn’t in shock, she might have found it funny how he was propped against the rock. Back straight, arms crossed in front of him, much like a soldier standing at attention.

“I am,” he said, adjusting himself on the rocks to sit more comfortable. “But are you alright?”

Charlotte didn’t reply, her eyes flickering down to her thighs. They were red from her scratching, but she thankfully hadn’t reopened any wounds. There were still some tears in the corners of her now red puffy eyes, her face stained and swollen from how hard she had been sobbing moments ago.

“I’m fine,” she murmured softly, rubbing her eyes. “You don’t have to worry about me. You can-”

“You’re hurt.”

Charlotte’s eyes widened when the mercreature moved closer to her. She would have flinched away, but he didn’t attempt to touch her. Then she noticed his eyes were focused on the old scars on her scratched up thighs. Quickly, she pulled down her shirt in a pitiful attempt to hide them, completely mortified as she turned away from him.

A strange sound came from the creature; something between a whine and a purr. She flinched back, still embarrassed, when he did it again. She sheepishly turned back, surprised to see the concern on his face. His webbed hands shifted away, giving her room and showing he wasn’t going to touch her, but remained.

“W-Why-?” She couldn’t form a full question, still stunned by his actions and struck silent by the gesture.

However, he seemed to understand yet again, and gave her a small bow of his head. “I will not pry. But, forgive my presumptuousness, I can’t in good conscious leave you in this state.”

His words stunned her again. She wanted to tell him she was fine, that he didn’t need to stay, but he simply moved back to his spot from before, even lying down against the rock.

A little unnerved and embarrassed, she drew her legs in and tried to ignore him. Only a few minutes passed and nothing happened, but Charlotte jumped when a low whale call suddenly appeared. It was just like the call she played the flute with… Curious, she looked to the mercreature, who was still singing. So he had been the one from before, who sang with her on the beach that one time.

She turned away again, but didn’t try to drown him out or ask him to stop. Whatever he was doing, she felt her tension roll off of her back. She laid her face down in her knees, closing her eyes as she let herself listen to the calling. The accompanying sounds of the crashing waves, soft blow of the wind through the trees, made his song stronger. And it made her feel more at peace and comfortable in her skin. Even more so than when she cut herself...

After a while though, the song finally stopped. Opening her eyes, she looked over to see the mer move again. The water rippled around him as he pushed from his rock and came closer to her than before. But she didn’t mind it, staying in her spot, especially since he didn’t get too much closer.

“Feeling better?” he asked.

“A… a little,” she said softly, stretching out her legs a bit. “... Thank you.”

He smiled, before looking up at the sky. Charlotte looked up too. Oh no, it was a lot darker than before… And she didn’t have her phone on her, so she had no idea what time it was. Still, she didn’t have to be a genius to figure out how late it probably was. And, even though she didn’t want to go back home and figured the others didn’t even notice she was gone, she didn’t want to worry David.

“I better get home, it’s late,” she muttered.

He merely nodded, watching as she carefully made her way back to shore. He stayed there, almost as if she were afraid she would slip. A part of her appreciated his care, though she was surprised a stranger, mercreature or others, would care about her at all. But, she still couldn’t help but to smile in content as she finally made it to the shoreline.

“If you feel sad again…” the mer called, causing her to turn back. “I’ll be here.”

The promise seemed out of nowhere, making her eyes widening. She wanted to tell him he didn’t have to, but she found herself touched and unable to tell him no.

“T-Thank you,” she said softly, a tiny blush crossing her cheeks. Then a thought came to mind before she turned away again. “O-Oh, my name… I’m Charlotte. Thank you for before… and for saving me.”

He merely gave her a nod. “I’m Ultra Magnus. Come back whenever you would like.”

“Okay… See you again. Maybe.”

Not sure what else to do, she gave a small wave before heading back up the path towards her home. But a loud whale call rang through her ears, causing her to look back, but he was gone. Soon, the waves drowned it out and all she could hear was the sea.

She never would have thought these strange creatures had such human emotions and understood them too. But it made sense as to why he would have saved her from that sharkticon. An act of kindness, wanting to help when another was in danger… Just like how he stayed beside her when she probably needed it most.

She didn’t know how to thank him. Perhaps the next time they met, she would come up with something to show her appreciation for what he did. She couldn't even begin to imagine what he might have liked, but she could probably think of something.

So, turning back to the path, she made her way back home. She hoped to see Ultra Magnus again soon.


End file.
